Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:

Grant proposalData management plan

Notes

Abstract:

The George A. Smathers Libraries (the Libraries) at the University of Florida (UF) requests $499,994 in Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership Grant (NLG) resources for the period of October 1, 2012 through September 30, 2015 to: 1) actualize, integrate, evaluate, and disseminate museum materials from the Panama Canal Museum (PCM), a 501c3 museum facility located in Seminole, Florida with plans to close and terminate services as of March 31, 2012; 2) lead and facilitate a multi‐institutional centennial celebration of the opening Panama Canal in 2014‐2015 to promote public understanding of the achievement and the heritage resources available for scholarly, educational, and civic purposes; and 3) initiate a national dialog about the potential for best practices in library‐museum collaborations, strategic alliances, and partnerships. Formal partners include the Panama Canal Museum, the Florida Museum of Natural History, and the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art. Also participating are the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program, Center for Latin American Studies, Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere, College of Business, College of Fine Arts, College of Engineering, Health Science Center and Legal Information Center, all at UF. Non‐UF collaborating institutions include the Museum of Science and Industry (Tampa), Nationaal Baggermuseum in Sliedrecht (the Netherlands), the Natural History Museum of San Diego, Museo del Canal Interoceánico de Panamá, National Archives and Records Administration, and the Association of Southeast Research Libraries, with other participants in development. The ongoing economic downturn has created significant, long‐term financial pressures for the nonprofit sector, and museums have suffered as government funding and contributed income has decreased. Institutions have more actively explored options ranging from strategic alliances to joint operations to mergers. This project will develop and document the first known example of a full closure of a small museum and the transfer of its community and collections to an academic library within a large public research university. Capturing the strategies, challenges, milestones, and lessons of this collaboration will create a demonstration model for the field (libraries, archives, and museums). This case goes beyond the important transfer and integration of collection assets: it includes integration and “stewardship” of a unique community of some 800 PCM members and 3,000 Panama Canal Society (PCS) members. Many are already active and all are seen as potential leaders, volunteers, legacy ambassadors, and collection donors. Project activities related to the integration process include asset mapping and community cultivation; ongoing documentation and evaluation of the merger process; museum stewardship and internships; collection development, organization, preservation, and digitization; K‐12 educational assets, and convening two national virtual dialogs related to mergers and deep collaboration between museums and libraries. The celebration of the centennial of the opening of the Panama Canal (in August 2014) provides a powerful focus and accelerant to collection integration and broad collaboration to support development of physical and online exhibits, guest lectures, and development/dissemination of K‐12 curriculum materials. These will serve the immediate university community of 60,000 students and 25,000 faculty and staff from UF and Santa Fe College, as well as families, communities, and tourists within the region, and beyond. Outcomes from the project focus on a successful merger and PCM collection integration, and its documentation and articulation as a fulsome demonstration model. Outcomes will also include and be measured by the continuing vibrancy of the PCM member community, and the facets and impact of the centennial celebration. Deliverables also include a project white paper, IMLS evaluation report, Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Spec Kit (survey results and documentation from member institutions to provide resource guides), journal articles, conference presentations, two national dialogs on library/museum mergers, and a collection that will serve scholars, researchers, and the public for generations to come.

General Note:

Includes digital curation and preservation portion of the data management plan as is standard for IMLS grant proposals.

The Panama Canal  Preserving a Legacy, Celebrating a Centennial, Leveraging an Extraordinary Human Achievement University of Florida Digital Preservation Plan The George A. Smathers Libraries at the University of Florida are committed to long term digital preservation of all materials in the UF Digital Collections, including Panama and the Canal Collection ( http://ufdc.ufl.edu/pcm ), and in UF supported collaborative projects as with the Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC). Redundant digital archives, adherence to proven standards, and rigorous quality control methods protect digital objects. The UF Digital Collections provide a comprehensive approach to digital preservation, including technical supports, reference services for both online and offline archived files, and support services by providing training and consultation for digitization standards for long term digital preservation. The Smathers Libraries support locally created digital resources, including the UF Digital Collections which contains over 300,000 digital objects with over 15 million files (as of August 2012). The Smathers Libraries create METS/MODS metadata for all materials. Citation information for each digital object is also automatically transformed into MARCXML and Dublin Core. These records are widely distributed through library networks and through search engine optimization to ensure broad public access to all online materials. In practice consistent for all digital projects and materials supported by the Smathers Libraries, redundant copies are maintained for all online and offline files. The digital archive is maintained as the Florida Digital Archive (FDA) ( http://fclaweb.fcla.edu/fda ) which was completed in 2005 and is available at no cost to Floridas public university libraries. The software programmed to support the FDA is modeled on the widely accepted Open Archival Information System. It is a dark archive and no public access functions are provided. It supports the preservation functions of format normalization, mass format migration and migration on request. As items are processed into the UF Digital Collections (UFDC) for public access, a command in the METS header directs a copy of the files to the Florida Digital Archive (FDA). The process of forwarding original files to the FDA is the key component in UFs plan to store, maintain and protect electronic data for the long term. If items are not directed to load for public access, they do not load online and are instead loaded directly to the FDA.